MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. London will take appropriate retaliatory measures against the withdrawal of accreditation of two of its diplomats in Moscow, a spokesman for the UK Embassy in Russia said in a statement made available to TASS.
Earlier, a representative of the UK Embassy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the deprivation of accreditation of two employees of the diplomatic mission for providing false information about themselves and based on evidence of their intelligence and covert activities.
The embassy expressed its disagreement with the actions of the Russian side. "We will retaliate accordingly," the spokesman said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had earlier stressed that "the Russian side will give a decisive mirror response" if London escalates the situation.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) earlier told TASS that the second secretary of the UK Embassy in Moscow and the husband of another British diplomat were stripped of their accreditation for deliberately providing false information about themselves and showing signs of intelligence and disruptive activities. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with the relevant agencies, decided to revoke the accreditation of Alkesh Odedra and Michael Skinner and ordered them to leave the country within two weeks.